“Ain’t nobody taxin’ MY pumpkin!”

Pumpkins a taxing problem in Iowa

The Iowa Department of Revenue is taxing jack-o’-lanterns this Halloween. The new department policy was implemented after officials decided that pumpkins are used primarily for Halloween decorations, not food, and should be taxed, said Renee Mulvey, the department’s spokeswoman.

“We made the change because we wanted the sales tax law to match what we thought the predominant use was,” Mulvey said. “We thought the predominant use was for decorations or jack-o’-lanterns.”

“I don’t mind paying taxes, but let’s get real here, people,” said Bob Kautz, owner of the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch in Buffalo, about eight miles west of Davenport.

Kautz, who has owned his farm for seven years, was particularly dismayed with the notion of requiring customers to fill out a form verifying that they planned to eat the pumpkins they were buying.

“It’s another crazy, crazy, stupid thing,” he said.



  1. Angel H. Wong says:

    What about those who buy the pumpkin, warm it up, then bore a hole into it and then proceed to have sex with it?

  2. NappyHeadedHo says:

    #1 – now there’s use for those old pumpkins.

  3. hhopper says:

    Angel You Horny Bastard!

  4. HisMostHumblyExhaultedSupremeGlobalWarmingMajesty says:

    #1 – Well, do they eat it afterward or not?

  5. Joe B says:

    Culver ends ‘ridiculous’ pumpkin tax:

    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Chet Culver is rescinding the state’s new tax on pumpkins.

    Culver called the Department of Revenue’s new policy “ridiculous,” following backlash from many pumpkin growers who complained the tax would cut into their profits.

    He said he has ordered the department “to do the common sense thing” and offer refunds for anyone affected by policy.

    comment: Well, that didn’t take long.

  6. Gary Marks says:

    They rescinded the tax just when I was going to suggest they make it more silly. I thought that everyone should have to pay the pumpkin tax, but later they can get a rebate if they can burp a big ol’ pumpkin-smellin’ burp for the tax man 😉

  7. Glenn E says:

    I’m from the state of Maryland, where they’re always coming up with ideas for taxing its people. Every lame ass tax that other states think of, we have to try it too. Until just a couple years ago, we had a “snack tax” on food that was considered mainly party fare. So basically soda and chips got taxed. Now, they want to raise the state’s sales tax a penny (per dollar) to help get them out of debt. Which I pretty sure was planned on purpose, to force us to adopt legalized Slot Machines. Which has failed to pass for many years here, while other surrounding states have caved in. Of course, we’ve got legalized just-about-everything-else already. And none of that has saved our bacon. So I don’t see how adding Slot Machines are going to do anything but make that industry richer. So we’ll see if our taxes increase, or Slots gets approved. And then in five years, we’ll see if our taxes increase again, anyway.


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